Clemson, SC Outdoor Activities

The Nantahala River rushes through Class II rapids and higher, but it also runs through the stories of the countless people who've dared its churning waters and tumbling falls. One such story centers on Steven and Sue, who met at a Hendersonville summer camp and soon fell in love with each other and the Smoky Mountain air. Eight years later, the Matzes sold off the trappings of corporate-Atlanta life and founded Adventurous Fast Rivers Rafting with their two children, four dogs, and more than a dozen wilderness-loving employees.

These instructors—certified in First Aid and CPR—ready groups for each guided or unguided exploration by teaching proper raft and boat control, as well as describing techniques for crew coordination. A hand-painted map points out routes through the Nantahala Gorge that avoid interview-hungry nature documentarians. Adventurers have just as many rafting options as routes, including Aire and Hyside self-bailing inflatable rafts, funyaks, sit-on-top Torrent kayaks, and traditional bucket rafts. After either disembarking at the riverside outpost—recognizable by the tree growing through its center—or preparing for a final plunge down the Nantahala Wesser Falls, river-farers dry off and examine photos taken during the plunge down the Falls. The outdoor picnic area's park-style charcoal grills make it easy to throw a post-river barbecue.

In 2003, underwater overachiever Robbie Bogan embarked on a new endeavor would have him regularly shifting back and forth between the thrill of exploring shipwrecks to the gravity of teaching CPR and marine rescue techniques. The experienced cofounder of Upstate Scuba had created a scuba school that teaches both recreational scuba diving and tactical and emergency diving. As a result, the people who frequent the Upstate facility comprise a diverse student body.

First-timers arrive and are soon dunked into the pool during Try Scuba courses; search-and-rescue personnel often show up for instruction on the latest underwater navigation or night diving. The curriculum includes opportunities to gain certification, which can be used to participate in Upstate Scuba's open-water trips to nearby lakes. As dealers of top-notch equipment, Robbie also teachs divers safe use of breathing apparatuses and how to scare away sharks by impersonating Steven Spielberg.

Kim Warner’s daughter, Clare, was riding whitewater by age 3, and had advanced to doing it dressage style the following season. The owner of Rafting With My Kids, Warner has safely launched families since 1988, when she and her outfitters turned their condo in Asheville into a base camp for trips down the Tuckasegee, Green, and French Broad rivers. Now in its 24th season, a group of CPR- and first-aid-certified guides lead exhilarating two-hour voyages exclusively on the Tuckasegee River. Their gear includes lifejackets designed specifically for kids, enabling adventurers as young as 4 to pile into inflatable rafts with a guardian and older kids the freedom to venture out in two-person duckies. The water is only 3–5 feet deep on average and, as Warner puts it on the business’s website, the rapids are not “too hardcore.” Each guide carries a cell phone and a first-aid kit, as well as light snacks of cookies and peanut-butter or cheese crackers to keep rafters energized.

Though water is the world's most abundant resource, white water is a bit more difficult to find. The guides and adventurers at Nantahala Outdoor Center have traveled as far as Panama to find the best rapids—a dedication to the thrill of the outdoors that has attracted the attention and awe of such publications as National Geographic. Still, despite the churning siren calls of international waters, the American South's Smoky Mountains offer plenty to explore. When not leading regular white-water expeditions down seven local rivers—including the Chattooga, Pigeon, and Nolichucky—Nantahala's guides set out for off-water adventures in the surrounding hills, zipping along the scenic Nantahala Gorge—formed over several millennia from fossilized rapids—and setting out for waterfall hikes among mountain trails. In addition to their guided explorations, Nantahala Outdoor Center also conducts outdoor classes, equipping students with kayaking know-how as well as skills to survive among the wilderness' feral park rangers.